Quail eggs are underused in my opinion…aren’t those adorable? l love those tiny and cute eggs, they’re so delicate with a very fragile shell, and certainly can enhance any velouté. I like anything that comes in a small portion, the beauty of such a tiny egg is that you can fit it all in your mouth and break it inside if you like or break it on top of your soup. As far as eggs are concerned, I have this thing about breaking them, and I hate to see the yolk all over the place.

You can make this soup with just fava beans or peas, or also a mixture of both, they both have very velvety and sweet flavors when puréed. The edamame remain a little crunchy, so it’s important to cook them a little longer and blend them longer too so they are completely puréed into a smooth texture.

If you cannot find quail eggs, you can always use one regular poached egg instead.

When poaching eggs, adding some vinegar is quite an important part of a successful process. Usually the quantity of vinegar is about 10% of the water quantity, and the water needs to boil at high temperature, then to be decreased when pouring the eggs, this way, the whites coagulates around the yolks and don’t get spread out in the water.

Ingredients for 4

• 12.34 oz (or 350 g) fava beans (net weight without the pods)
• 3.52 oz (or 100 g) edamame (fresh or frozen)
• 1.5 shallots, chopped
• 2 garlic clove, crushed
• 2 tbs crème fraîche
• vegetable broth
• 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 12 quail eggs

Preparation

Cook fava beans in a pot of boilng water for about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and peel them. Set aside.

Heat olive oil in a pan, then add shallots and garlic and brown them. If using frozen edamame, add them and cook for about 10-15 minutes, then add peeled fava beans.

Cover with broth, adjust with salt and pepper and cook for another 10 minutes. Add cream and blend in mixer or using an immersion blender. Pass the soup through a sieve and keep warm. IF the soup is too thick add broth to desired consistency.

For the quail eggs, bring about 2 cups of water to a boil with vinegar (preferably white vinegar). Reduce heat. Break carefully quail eggs in a container, then pour them in water, making sure the whites remain around the yolk, using a spoon, keep whites close to the yolks. Cook for one minute, remove from water, and place in a cold water to stop the cooking process.

Divide soups in bowls, then add three poached eggs, sprinkle with paprika and olive oil and serve.

After a little trip to New Orleans, I have to admit I was really looking forward to coming back to San Francisco, and I think I had legitimate reasons.

First of all the weather, it was incredibly hot and humid, then the food, it was even more incredibly greasy, very unhealthy (almost no vegetables) or the few ones served in restaurants were fried. “Fried” is the magic word in New Orleans. Actually I knew many Southern food dishes were fried but I was was not expecting it to such an extent. You can find dishes such as shrimp or crawfish étouffée but the poor seafood is swimming in the heavy brownish sauce and you end up not tasting the delicate flavor of seafood at all.  I certainly did not spend enough time to appreciate the great things about New Orleans or try the “other” cuisine, but I have to still talk about my experience, and unfortunately that was it.

Overall, it was quite an interesting experience and as any experience it enables you to really appreciate things better, you never know how much you like and miss something until you no longer have it.

One thing I appreciated so much was the hospitality of the people, everyone was just unbelievably charming, helpful and so polite. Quite a change from California.

As soon as I came back home, I had some pasta and seafood cravings, so to indulge myself, I made this delicious and flavorful pasta dish. Shrimps and fava beans mix beautifully together and the wholesomeness of the pasta combined with the other ingredients makes it a perfect lunch.

Ingredients for 2

• 5.3 ounces (150 g) whole wheat fettucine
• 1/2 shrimps
• 1/2 lb fava beans
• 2 tbs sundried tomatoes
• 2 tbs plain bread crumbs
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 pinch hot chili powder
• 1 tbs parsley, chopped
• 1 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Peel the shrimps and devein. Remove fava beans from pods and cook in boiling water for about 3 minutes, depending on the size of the beans ( if the beans are big, would need a little more cooking time). Drain the beans and remove the skin. Set aside.

Cook fettucine in boiling water for about 7 minutes or until al dente, do not over cook pasta.

Heat olive oil, add shrimps and cook for a few minutes, then add sundried tomatoes, salt and pepper. Stir well and add garlic, chili powder and bread crumbs. Cook until the bread crumbs turn brown.

Add cooked fettucine to the shrimps and fava bean mixture. Mix well all the ingredients and add parsley. Mix again fettucine and serve hot.